Chapter 4: Rewind: Revelations

“So nothing seemed out of the ordinary?” Sonic asked back in the helicopter.

“Define ordinary.” Ben asked jokingly.

“Like you get sent on missions like that and it just seemed like something normal?” Tails asked.

“In a ways, I mean it started out normal. Just a routine check on a settlement and find out who did it and what was their M.O.”

“And you thought it was just some mercenaries or bandits?” Sonic asked.

“The key word in that is thought. We thought it was something along those lines but in the end it really wasn’t.” Ben said

“So what was it that attacked the village?” Sonic asked even though he had a feeling on who it was. Sonic had a feeling it was Eggman though he listens in anyways.

“This is where it gets interesting. So we leave the village and on the trail…” Ben says.



“So all I got was a bunch of mercs or bandits or whatnot that just randomly attacked the town.” Shaymus added in on the road.
“Same here.” Tommy said. “I got that they kept far away from the town and one of the deputies was sure that he hit one of them.”

“Well how can he be sure if he hit whoever attacked?” Carol asked

“The sheriff praised him as a crack shot.” Tommy replied. “He said there were a lot of glints as well.”

“So they were using sub machine guns?” Raymond asked.

“No I heard the same thing.” Shaymus added. “ Though from what some of the stories I heard they were all over the place. Too spaced out to be machine gun fire.”

“Odd.” William added.

“What if the mercs were using some sort of robot to fight with them?” Jackson added.

“What do you mean?” Shaymus asked with a very skeptical look.

Well if it was a robot, it would explain all the glints.” Jackson added.

“Then how the hell does a bunch of bandits or whatnot get a robot or two.” Raymond asked.

“Well how many times has Eggman tried taking over the world in the past 5 years?” Jackson asked

“At least 10-15 times” William added.

“And he has a whole army of robots that get trashed by Sonic and his friends right? Jackson added.

“Right, hey Ben you know Sonic right?” Tommy asked.

“Old friends, though I haven’t seen him in a while” Ben asked. “I think I know where Jackson is getting at: He’s suggesting that this group, if it is bandits or that sort, found one of Eggman’s robots that was intact in ways and fixed and reprogramed it to help them serve their purposes.”

“Okay if they get their hands on a robot how would they reprogram it? Its rather difficult to reprogram anything.” Carol said.

“Eggman’s robots aren’t that difficult to crack. I have done it before he uses rather simple programing. Someone who boasts an IQ of 300 doesn’t really show it.” Raymond replied.

“You hit it dead on Ben. I mean if its possible for a group to reprogram it wouldn’t they use it?” Jackson replied.

“Well that potentially solves the glint problem.” Raymond said. “Hold on!” Raymond said as the whole group comes to a stop.

“What is it?” Shaymus asked?

“Footprints.” Raymond says as he crouched down to examine the footprints. There were some irregular shaped footprints all leading back down towards the ruins, which isn’t that far down the road. “Some looks like robots. I can’t tell what the others look like…” He gets a puzzled look on his face. “Strange, It doesn’t look like any Mobian I have ever seen…”

“I cant pick up a scent.” William said

“Same here” Tommy said.

“No scent??” Shaymus said. “We are all canines here… well except for Raymond.” He looks at Raymond. “No offense bro.

“Non taken. But we are one of the best tracking squads and we can’t get a scent??”

“Could they hide the scent?” Jackson asked. “I mean isn’t there ways to mask a scent?”

“There is but even then we would be able to pick up SOMETHING.” Carol said

But all the suddenly Ben heard a noise. “I heard something.” Everyone immediately crouches and forms up in a circle so they all have a 360-degree view of the area.

“What was it?” Raymond asked.

“Not sure.” Ben says. He points to William and then points up to the tree. William then climbs up in the tree and uses his scope to see ahead. “What do you see?”

“Nothing” William said.

“Okay guys. Move up.” Ben said. “William: use the trees to watch our six. Alert us if anything is coming” William nods and they all begin moving down the path.

“You think they spotted us?” Shaymus whispered.

“Doubt it.” Tommy said.

“Could be a squirrel.” Jackson said.

As they slowly move down the path they can see the ruins in sight. They could also see some sort of impromptu camp and it was occupied recently. As they get in the clearing they see that no one is there and the ruins are still sealed. William jumps and lands on top of the entrance, still scanning in the area.

“Empty??” Shaymus said.

“Maybe they ran after they saw us or something.” Raymond said

“I figured they would still be here… or a trace of them.” Carol said.

“Ruins are still sealed… thought it looks like they tried getting in.” Tommy said.

“Doesn’t surprise me. The safe house is difficult to break into.” Ben said.

“Right… now where did they…” Raymond said as an explosion happens right next to them. “AMBUSH!!”

All the sudden silhouettes appeared in the forest and started to fire at the team. They all were uninjured from the explosion and they all dive for cover. Ben looks around and sees all of his squad members grab their gear and appeared ready to fire back at the enemies.

“Ok. Go loud. Try not to not kill all of them” Ben replied as he sneaks around the attackers and gets ready to take them down. The firefight doesn’t last long; Ben’s squad is great at taking down targets quickly and swiftly. As Ben gets right behind one of them pulls out his kukri and spins one of the attackers out and stabs it in the chest. As he did he realizes it’s not a Mobian or an Overlander: it was a SWATbot. Ben looks and sees that it’s ALL SWATbots. There were no Mobians or Overlanders, just SWATbots. All of them were down for the count except the one Ben was standing over. “Regroup guys.”

“What the hell was that?? Who the hell attacked us? What the hell attacked us??” Shaymus said.

“It was a SWATbot” Ben said as he walks up to the squad. “They were ALL SWATbots.”

“Wait, ALL of them were SWATbots?” Carol asked as Ben walks back to the disabled SWATbot and drags it back to he squad.

“Yea, I was able to keep this one running.” Ben said. “Raymond, see if you can get into his hard drive and figure out what it was doing out here.

“So it was Eggman that it was behind this?” Tommy asked.

“It’s what it looks like.” Jackson replied

“I don’t think a bunch of good for nothing lowlifes could reprogram a bunch of Eggman’s SWATbots.” Carol replied.

“Got it.” Raymond replied as Ben crouches down and scans the hard drive. “What do you got Ben??”

“Hold on a second… Tyrone is processing the information, and there’s a lot of it.” Ben said as his eyes go from left to right looking at it. “Mission 34d-002, Directive: Locate the Myarque safe house and find any and all information on Artifact 001.”

“What’s Artifact 001?” Shaymus asked.

“Gimme a second” Ben said. “Ok Artifact 001 is…” Ben stops talking and appears shocked. “Tyrone double-check that.”

“What I gave you is correct, Ben.” Tyrone said as his A.I. appears and then vanishes when he was done talking.

“What’s wrong Ben?” asked Jackson.

“We need to get back to Alvakirk ASAP. This is big.” Ben said. The squad nods and hey head back to HQ.

Several hours later, back in HQ Ben and his squad file into the Command tent as they see Gen. Yukon and Gen. Alvakirk along with Commander Armand D’Coolette and other MPs.

“Aha, Captain Wolfbane. I hope ze mission went well.” Armand asked Ben

“It was fine Commander, but we uncovered something larger.” Ben said looking uneasy.

Alvakirk immediately knew something wasn’t right. “I want everyone but Ben, his squad, Gen. Yukon and the Commander to leave. Now.” He said as everyone left the room leaving the ones Alvakirk asked to stay there. “What happened?”

“We figured out who attacked Twinleaf, sir.” Raymond said.

“Then I expect the attackers were dealt with?” Gen. Alvakirk asked.

“Yes, thought it wasn’t what we expected” Ben said.

“Good, who was the attacking party?” Yukon asked.

“SWATbots” Ben said.

“That’s goo… wait SWATbots?” Alvakirk asked.

“Yes sir.” Raymond said

“What were they doing over there?” Alvakirk asked.

“They were looking for something.” Ben said.

“What they were looking for?” Alvakirk asked.

“They were looking for something dubbed by Eggman as Artifact 001. Artifact 001 is the TimeShifter.” Ben replied. Ben’s squad, Yukon and Armand look at each other confused as Ben, Raymond and Alvakirk looked very concerned.

“This is bad.” Alvakirk said

“No kidding.” Ben said.

“May I ask what the TimeShifter is??” Shaymus asked.

“The TimeShifter is an ancient artifact that can manipulate time itself. It been said to be known to stop, slow, and fast forward time. It can erase certain things in existence and among other things.” Ben said as he takes a deep breath “One of them being the ability to make one immortal.”

“So Eggman is chasing a myth?” Yukon said.

“Its not a myth. Everyone in the Myarque knew it exists but its exact location is unknown.” Ben says with anger in his tone. “If Eggman gets it he can use it to become immortal.”

“I say you go after the him.” Tommy said. “We don’t need the evil Doctor to live on forever.”

“Agreed.” Carol said.

“Then you know what I’m going to ask, Alvakirk.” Ben said.

“I know, you need to stop him. It would also help close that chapter of your life if you do defeat him.” Alvakirk said understanding Ben’s plight.

“You’re not going” Yukon said. “It’s a waste of resources for one of us to be chasing a myth.”

“ITS NOT A FREAKING MYTH!!” Ben said, as his eyes turn red. His squad immediately takes two steps back. “You haven’t the slightest Yukon, you seriously don’t. You have no idea what I know that you couldn’t comprehend. I have a better understanding of the world and things that happened that you would never know. Alvakirk and Raymond know that it exists.” Ben’s tone shows that he is clearly mad at Yukon’s stubborn attitude. Both Raymond and Alvakirk nod in agreeing that they know that the TimeShifter exists. “All of us know that if Eggman gets this we may kiss our futures goodbye. As I said you have no freaking clue.”

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that!! I will have you discharged for insubordination for speaking against me.” Yukon said, as he is clearly angry as well. “I think this is a ploy to get a few weeks off from service.”

“That’s enough from you Yukon” Armand said to him. “I believe Captain Wolfbane, as he is the only one with direct knowledge left of something of that caliber. I know Raymond and Alvakirk both have knowledge of what it is as well and I know Ben wouldn’t lie to get time off as he is one of our best marines.”

“Thank you, sir.” Ben replied as he calms down a bit. “So permission to chase down Eggman?”

“Granted.” Alvakirk said

“Denied.” Yukon said

“Granted Captain, you will have anything you may need for this.” Armand said.

“Thank you sirs. I will finish this as fast as I can.” Ben replied. He turns around and faces his squad. “Raymond will be in charge as I am gone. I need to do this myself.

“Understood.” Shaymus said.

“Give him hell.” Carol said.

“Alright. I will begin Operation: Time Breaker immediately.” Ben said.

“Understood, Ben.” Alvakirk said. “You may wanna find your old pal Sonic as well, He should be able to help.”

“I was just thinking that. I will” Ben said.

“Grand. Good luck and Godspeed Ben. Dismissed” Armand said as Ben walks out with his gear and in the direction north to begin his mission.



“And that’s how I figured out what Eggman was up to.” Ben says as he finishes his story with Sonic and Tails.

“Did you run into anything of Eggman’s before you found us?” Tails asked.

“The occasional SWATbot here and there. I swear you two were harder to find than a needle in a haystack.” Ben said jokingly. I was able to recover the mass of Robots towards that old safe house the night before so I tracked him there.”

“So it was dumb luck that you found us.” Sonic asked.

“Bro, our childhood adventures were filled with dumb luck.” Ben said

“I guess that’s true.” Sonic said laughing.

“Hey look Angel Island is ahead of us!” Tails yelled.

“Ok guys lets land and find Knuckles.” Ben said, as he gets ready to descend onto the island. Sonic thinks stretches as he has been sitting in the seat for a while. He is ready to get the show on the road and take down Eggman.